S. Korea's forex trading grows in May

SEOUL, June 15 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign exchange trading grew last month due to strong demand for the U.S. currency, central bank data showed Monday.

The daily average transaction of foreign currencies and derivatives in the domestic inter-bank market expanded 7.04 billion U.S. dollars from a month earlier to 56.21 billion dollars in May, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It was affected by solid demand for the U.S. currency, of which the daily average trading swelled 2.99 billion dollars.

The daily average transaction of the Chinese currency fell 0.08 billion dollars.

Demand for FX swaps increased 3.67 billion dollars to 24.66 billion dollars, while the transaction of other derivatives, including currency swaps and options, was up 0.27 billion dollars to 3.36 billion dollars.

The daily average volatility in the South Korean won versus the U.S. dollar exchange rate slipped to 0.45 percent in May from 0.59 percent in April.

The won versus dollar exchange rate advanced to 1,507.9 won per dollar at the end of May from 1,483.3 won tallied a month earlier.

The premium on credit default swap, which gauges credit risk for five-year government bonds, averaged 25 basis points in May, down from 31 basis points a month ago. Enditem